1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to semiconductor infrared radiation detectors. More particularly, this invention pertains to metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) radiation detectors which detect infrared radiation by collecting charges generated within the semiconductor by the interaction of the radiation with the semiconductor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Infrared radiation detection by means of metal-insulator-semiconductors and a technique for obtaining the outputs from the individual detectors in an array by a method referred to as the charge-injection device ("CID") technique have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,422 and by Burke and Michon, "Charge Injection Imaging: Operating Techniques and Performance Characteristics," IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, pp. 121-128, vol. SC-11, No. 1, February 1976. A method for integrating the outputs of the detectors using the CID technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,633. The integration of the outputs reduces the relative amount of noise associated with the output of each element in an array of radiation detectors while, at the same time, avoiding saturation of the individual detectors.
The readout of the outputs of an array of MIS detectors by means of the CID technique suffers from a number of problems which arise from the interactions or cross-talk between the elements in the array of detectors. The cross-talk is due to electrical connections between the elements of each row and between elements of each column in the array, which electrical connections are an integral part of the CID readout technique. In addition, capacitive coupling between the row and column conductors used in the CID technique causes additional cross-talk. The capacitance of the row and column connectors also significantly reduces the signal level of the outputs of the capacitor pairs that are used in the CID technique.
An additional practical problem occurs in the devices of the prior art. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,633, the rows and columns used for the readout of the array typically are connected by ordinary wire connections to the companion array of integrators. For an array having a significant number of elements, the difficulty in connecting the rows and columns of the array and the integrators by means of individual wires is significant.